Saturday, 25 October 2014

All Broke Down by Cora Carmack Excerpt and Giveaway

I'm an unashamed Cora Carmack fangirl so I'm always giddy and all over it when I see she's got another blog tour planned. And I LOVED All Broke Down, especially since I got to read it while watching Friday Night Lights. They really are such a perfect match.And I'm thrilled today to be able to share an excerpt with you before it's release on Tuesday!

She stands and
crosses toward me, and my kitchen feels too damn small with her this close. All
I can see are all the surfaces I want to press her against to end this
conversation.

She lays a soft hand
on my forearm, and her touch burns.

“You’re not a charity
case.”

I thought the night
that we met that she was one of those “good girls” looking to take a bad boy
and pretty him up to take home to Mom. I’ve had my fair share of those that I
have gladly kicked to the curb. I’m not about to let someone else change and
manipulate me to make me into something that makes them happy. Then I thought
she was a nice girl looking to get a little wild, maybe freak her parents out.

But looking into her
eyes, I don’t think that’s her anymore. She wants to help me for my sake, not
for her own. I am her charity case, no matter what she says. But I’m not so
sure I mind that.

“Maybe I want to be
your charity case. Would you do that? If I asked?”

Her eyes widen. “Do
what exactly?”

I drag my hands
through my hair and pace away from her. “I don’t fucking know. Fix me.” She
makes a noise almost like laughter, and I cross back to her and grip her
shoulders. She swallows, and her eyes are serious on me now. “It sounds stupid,
I know. But I’m so close to losing it all, Dylan. This life I have now . . . it’s
everything to me. And Coach is ready to cut me if I don’t completely clean up
my act. I’ve been doing it my way, and I’m failing. So I think I need to try
something different.”

Maybe it’s not enough
anymore to pretend that I belong here. I have to change.

“I’m just not sure
what you’re asking of me, Silas.”

Goddamn it. Neither
am I.

“You help people. That’s
what you do. That’s what I’m asking for. I need to be better . . . be good. For
the team. For me. I just need to get my shit together.”

“Just the fighting?
Is that what you’re talking about?”

“All of it. The
fighting. The partying. Booze. Pot.”

“Bad-boy rehab?” She
still looks skeptical.

“I’m supposed to be a
leader, Dylan. I’m supposed to make this team stronger, but right now I’m its
biggest weakness.”

And God, I must look
so fucking pitiful, because she bites her lip, her big eyes soft and sorry. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“I’ll help.”

I want to fucking
kiss her. Pull that bottom lip between my teeth, instead of hers. But I settle
for pulling her against me and squeezing tight.

She makes a little
squeak, and it takes her several long seconds before she rests her hands
lightly against my bare chest.

“You have to actually
listen to me, though.”

It’s distracting,
feeling her breath against my skin, but I nod and say, “I will.”

“And you have to talk
to me. Answer my questions. I can’t get to the root of your actions unless I
know what you’re thinking, how you’re feeling.”

I stiffen. I know she’s
right, but that doesn’t mean I relish the idea of talking about my shit . . . especially
not with her.

When I don’t reply,
she tries to pull back, but I keep my arms locked around her waist. So with her
stomach still tight against mine, she leans back her shoulders and looks at me.

“If you want my help,
that’s the price.”

I ask, “What if we
worked out a trade? Like the other night.”

Pink floods her
cheeks, and her tongue peeks out to wet her lips. “You want me to kiss you to
get answers to my questions?”

“I was thinking more
a question for a question, but I’m fine with your idea.”

She shakes her head
quickly. “No, question for a question sounds good to me.”

I must be twisted
because the more she tries to pull away, the more I want to kiss her. Maybe
there’s something to that whole hard-to-get thing after all.

In this second book in New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cora Carmack’s New Adult, Texas-set Rusk University series, which began with All Lined Up, a young woman discovers that you can’t only fight for what you believe in . . . sometimes you have to fight for what you love

Dylan fights for lost causes. Probably because she used to be one.

Environmental issues, civil rights, corrupt corporations, and politicians—you name it, she’s probably been involved in a protest. When her latest cause lands her in jail overnight, she meets Silas Moore. He’s in for a different kind of fighting. And though he’s arrogant and infuriating, she can’t help being fascinated with him. Yet another lost cause.

Football and trouble are the only things that have ever come naturally to Silas. And it’s trouble that lands him in a cell next to do-gooder Dylan. He’s met girls like her before—fixers, he calls them, desperate to heal the damage and make him into their ideal boyfriend. But he doesn’t think he’s broken, and he definitely doesn’t need a girlfriend trying to change him. Until, that is, his anger issues and rash decisions threaten the only thing he really cares about, his spot on the Rusk University football team. Dylan might just be the perfect girl to help.

Because Silas Moore needs some fixing after all.

About Cora Carmack:

Cora Carmack is a twenty-something writer who likes to write about twenty-something characters. She's done a multitude of things in her life-- boring jobs (like working retail), Fun jobs (like working in a theatre), stressful jobs (like teaching), and dream jobs (like writing). She enjoys placing her characters in the most awkward situations possible, and then trying to help them get a boyfriend out of it. Awkward people need love, too. Her first book, LOSING IT, was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.